Facebook makes formal its opposition to online privacy bill

After several weeks of working behind the scenes, Facebook has formally notified the Legislature of its opposition to SB 242, a bill that would force social networking sites to change their privacy protection policies.

We did a write up of the bill, and what Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, called Facebook’s “stealth” campaign opposing it this weekend. Read all about it here.

Well, Facebook, along with other big time Internet and telecommunications companies like Google, Twitter, Skype, eHarmony, Yahoo! and Sprint, have now sent a letter to Corbett formally opposing the bill.

In it, they state that the bill would actually decrease privacy, that it is unnecessary, that it would hurt the state’s technology sector and that it is unconstitutional under both the California and U.S. constitutions.

Quoth the letter: “There are legitimate debates happening in California and around the world about the nature of online privacy and use of personal information on the Internet. These are important discussions. However, rather than establishing a floor for online privacy which social networking sites must meet or exceed, SB 242 would establish a ceiling undermining meaningful consumer choice while incentivizing this growing industry to expand their operations anywhere but California.”

Facebook also sent us a list of dates of meetings, phone calls and e-mails with Corbett and other members of the committee, dating back to January, an effort to push back against the notion that the company was working in a stealth mode.

But lawmakers say the behavior was still unusual. Corbett said today, “I know that some people are desperately trying to rewrite history but the fact remains that the public hearing happened last week and Facebook chose not to let the public know that they were in opposition, and instead they tried to kill the bill without their fingerprints on it.”

She was backed up by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, the chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that passed the bill last week. She said, “Instead of submitting a formal letter of opposition to the (committee) or publicly testifying on the bill, Facebook relied solely upon their trade association to make public comments against the bill. The legislative process is best served when those who take an active role in either supporting or opposing a piece of legislation do so in an open, transparent, and public manner and don’t rely only on behind the scenes maneuverings.”

The opposition is out in the open now, though, and the large coalition of companies will be working hard to kill the bill when it comes up for a vote on the Senate floor in the coming weeks.